"I'm going to capture a hybrid," Jack said with a grin. "Preferably more than one. Doing that would simultaneously weaken Alpha's forces, and we might even be able to get some information out of them regarding the location of their bases."
Ford looked at Jack like he had just grown a tail. After a few seconds, Ford shook his head some.
"Alright, your first plan to try and take down Alpha was crazy; this plan is downright insane," Ford replied.
"But it's not really," Jack said. "I mean, Miss Nova and I held our own against two of those hybrids less than half an hour ago; and if they hadn't teleported away like cowards, we would have beaten them. If we can lure one of them out into the open and pin it down, I think the two of us could definitely capture it; it might not be easy, but I'm sure it's possible."
"You fought two of them, not all five like they usually travel. We got lucky today that all five of them didn't attack us. The other three must still be recovering from the wounds we inflicted at the Citadel," Ford started. "Though I cannot imagine they will be out of the fight for much longer."
Jack nodded. "Good point; but even if all five of them appeared, I could easily teleport one of them away. Preferably several miles away, at which point we could take it down uninterrupted; and in fact that would be optimal, because it would give us the chance to choose our target."
"Jack… this is a war. Nothing ever goes as planned. There is a famous saying in the military of all regions regarding plans; 'No plan of operations extends with certainty beyond the first encounter with the enemy's main strength.' Your plan will not work out how you just laid it out," Ford said.
Jack shrugged. "Probably not, but I still think it's something to consider. After all, as things stand those hybrids are going to keep launching surprise attacks on your bases."
"If they could constantly launch surprise attacks like they just did, we would have already lost this war. This was the first time after three months that they have done so, I don't think it will happen again anytime soon," Ford countered.
"But they will eventually," Jack replied. "And until they do, aren't your forces and Alpha pretty much at a stalemate? They can't take your bases, and you can't find theirs; the hybrids are the tipping point. And even if it takes them a while, they will eventually tip the scales in Alpha's favor."
"They have already tipped the scales in Alpha's favor," Ford started, crossing his arms across his chest. "They have killed thousands of us and we have yet to kill a single one of them. We came close at the Citadel, but they managed to escape. Right now, our Ghosts are holding the front line to great effect. They are our trump card at the moment."
Jack furrowed his brow. "What exactly is a 'Ghost'?"
"Simply put, it's a tank; that is all I can say," Ford answered.
"Fair enough," Jack said. "If I had a trump card, I wouldn't reveal it lightly either. And to be perfectly honest, saying it's a tank is enough description for me anyway."
"Besides, anything we plan together will be hard to act upon. I cannot help you directly," Ford said.
"Because I'm here illegally, right?" Jack said, folding his arms.
"Exactly," Ford started, "You 'escaped' during the battle today. That is what is going in the reports. As for what you do, that will be up to you."
"And me," Nova interjected. "I'm going with him."
Jack turned to look at her. "How come? If you don't mind me asking."
"You are going after what I am going after," Nova answered quietly, her head and ears drooping some.
Jack nodded. "I see." He then turned back to General Ford. "On the other hand if I, somehow or other, happen to find myself in the possession of one of Alpha's hybrids, would you be overly suspicious if it made its way to you?"
"I would be more surprised than anything," Ford replied, crossing his arms as he was still skeptical. "Still, you best get on your way. There isn't much more I could tell you at this point."
"In that case I'll go ahead and make my dumbfounding escape during the heat of battle," Jack said wryly, before saluting. "It's been an honor meeting you, General; I appreciate you allowing me to 'escape'. I hope that someday I'll be able to return the favor. Maybe I'll even get the proper paperwork so I won't have to sneak around anymore."
"Yes, well I look forward to the day we will have finally eradicated Alpha and can live in peace," Ford answered, nodding his head. "I can say that once you did get the proper paperwork, we will gladly have you back if we all survive this war."
"That is something to look forward to," Jack said. "Until then, I wish you good fortune in the war. And Miss Nova, if you want to find me I'll be waiting for you a couple miles north of the base. Farewell."
With that Jack teleported away, although he didn't leave the base immediately. Instead he sent out an auric probe until he found his bag, which he'd had for so long it had actually become slightly imprinted with his auric signature. As such it didn't take him long to find and retrieve it, after which he finally left the base. As he told Nova, he went a good ways to the north just to make sure he didn't run into any soldiers.
After reaching what he considered a safe distance from the base, Jack hopped up into a convenient tree to take inventory. Looking inside his satchel he quickly confirmed that among other things his Bible, Pokédex, and set of trainer clothes were all present. He was especially relieved that no one had inspected the spare set of clothes too carefully because if they had, they might have noticed a thin, palm-sized, pink scale-like object; the Mind Plate. He hadn't looked at it much, or so much as thought about using it, since the incident with the Legendary Bird trio, but he felt that if worst came to worst he might have to use it again.
Jack pulled the Mind Plate out from the bundle of clothing and fingered its smooth surface thoughtfully.
"This thing almost destroyed my mind once," he thought to himself, "So why am I still considering using it? Just because I survived using it once doesn't mean I'd be just as lucky a second time…"
Reassuring himself that the Mind Plate was nothing more or less than an absolute last resort, a trump card if you will, he put it back among his clothes and resolved to think no more of it. After finding a comfortable position among the upper limbs of the tree, Jack closed his eyes and did his best to relax. He was most likely in for quite a rough time here in Saldara, and he figured that at some point rest would become an unaffordable commodity so he might as well make the most of it while he could.
He wasn't sure how long he lay in the tree with his eyes closed, but eventually he heard a voice which he soon confirmed was Nova's. He couldn't make out any words at first, but as she approached he realized that she was talking to someone. The only problem was that she was alone. Jack mentally shrugged; he couldn't even imagine how losing their mate might affect a person, but maybe talking to oneself was some kind of coping mechanism. He knew that personally he often wished for someone to talk to, it just seemed so quiet without half a dozen Pokémon all talking at once around him…
Jack sighed as he felt a now familiar knot forming in the pit of his stomach. He'd been getting that feeling a lot lately, whenever he thought about how his team was even now in the hands of a ruthless terrorist organisation, and that he couldn't do anything to help them; yet…
At that point Jack realised that while he'd been lost in thought, Nova had come to a stop near his tree. She looked up and Jack waved at her, forcing a happy-go-lucky grin back onto his face.
"Hey there Miss Nova," he called down to her. "You certainly took your time getting here."
"Ah, yeah…." Nova replied, running one of her claws through her blue mane. "Sorry about that."
Jack hopped down from his tree and landed beside Nova. He was about to make a snappy retort of some kind, when he suddenly felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up; as if he was being watched. His instincts had never failed him before, and right now they were telling him that he and Nova were not alone.
"There's someone else here…" he said, furrowing his brow.
Nova glanced to her right, maybe to see if anyone was there. Jack closed his eyes and opened his mind, and immediately became aware of a powerful third aura signature somewhere nearby. He turned his head slightly as he felt the source of the signature change location, but he soon found it again.
Quickly charging up a blast of electricity, Jack pivoted on his heel and fired it into the bushes behind him. The unfortunate shrubbery was blown to smithereens, but Jack scowled as he saw that he hadn't hit anything else.
"Someone's watching us," he said grimly. "I can sense them nearby, but I can't tell exactly where. They seem powerful though…"
Jack concentrated again, trying to more accurate estimate the location of their observer. Then all of a sudden he felt his skin prickle, as though he'd walked through a thick cobweb. He shook his head reflexively, then quickly shored up his mental defenses just in case. He didn't know who was keeping an eye on them, but he didn't think it would be wise to underestimate them.
Then Jack glanced over at Nova, who seemed to be trying not to laugh. Jack put two and two together, and came up with him looking ridiculous.
"I'm making a fool of myself, aren't I," he asked straight-faced, resigning himself to his fate.
Nova nodded as the last of her restraint gave way and gave a short laugh.
"You could say that," Nova replied with a smirk.
"In that case," Jack said, folding his arms, "Would you mind telling me what on Earth that was I sensed? It felt…" he paused, not sure how to describe it. "It felt like I was looking at a distant star; immensely powerful, but a long way away."
"Erm… that sounds about right," Nova replied vaguely, glancing off to the side.
Jack frowned as he noticed Nova's gaze shift to the right again, and once again the pieces started to fall into place.
"So… you can actually see it?" he asked.
"Her, and yes I can," Nova answered.
Jack raised an eyebrow quizzically. "Her?"
"Yes, her," Nova repeated herself. "Why?"
"Is 'she' like your fairy godmother or something?" Jack deadpanned.
"Fairy godmother?" Nova questioned, tilting her head to the side some. "Is that some human thing?"
"So far as I can tell," Jack said, scratching the back of his head. "I've been trying to read up on that kind of thing, but I guess there's no point trying to blend in with humans while I'm travelling with a Pokémon..."
Nova tilted her head even further to the side. Now it was her turn to be thoroughly confused.
"What does that mean?" Nova asked.
Jack shook his head. "Never mind; it's a long story, and I mean a really long story."
"Fair enough, I know exactly what you mean by that," Nova replied.
"Still, you still haven't answered my question," Jack insisted. "What… sorry, 'who' exactly is that aura signature I sensed?"
"Her name is Lauren and she is the relic of an ancient civilization that was destroyed seven-hundred years ago on the west coast of this region. Think of her as a massive, sentient aura source," Nova answered with a straight face.
Jack blinked. "You know, about five minutes ago I thought nothing could surprise me at this point. I stand corrected."
"Sed ego scio quod non sit ultimum tempus," Nova said, waving one of her paws in the air dismissively.
Jack sighed, remarking to himself that weird stuff seemed to seek him out.
"You're probably right about that one too," he said. "Anyway, do you have any ideas as to where we should go? Because I don't really know my way around this region."
"I know a place we can get supplies and is more or less on the way to the area General Ford pointed out on the map," Nova replied as she turned towards the west.
"Sounds good to me," Jack said. "So long as it includes a hot meal and a warm bath, I'm all for it."
Nova nearly exploded with laughter as she stopped walking for a moment.
"Let me guess," Jack said with a sigh of resignation. "Not even close?"
"Not even in the same universe," Nova responded.
Jack perked up at that. "Really?" he asked in mock-excitement.
"Figuratively, not literally," Nova continued, a mischievous smile still present. "The place I'm talking about is a seven-hundred year old civilization."
"I guess that would've been too much to ask for then," Jack said with a shrug. "My luck's not that good."
"You might get the hot meal though. That is unless you like raw meat," Nova stated with a laugh.
Jack shrugged again. "Come to think of it, I don't think either a hot meal or a hot bath is going to be a problem. After all, I can do this."
He snapped his fingers, and his hand was engulfed in a small tongue of fire which crackled merrily.
"Probably not," Nova said with a shrug, the spear on her back rising and falling with her shoulders.
Jack had noticed the weapon before, but this was the first time he'd seen it up close. It was somewhat ornate-looking, a little taller than Nova herself was, and had a downright deadly-looking metal head.
"I didn't know people, human or otherwise, were still using those," Jack stated curiously. "What's the story behind your unique choice of armaments?"
"My hastae?" Nova asked, reaching around and pulling the spear off of her back.
Jack nodded. "Yeah, that. It's not exactly something you'd expect a blue, hybrid Zoroark to be carrying around. Even if you were expecting a blue, hybrid Zoroark to be carrying anything around in the first place."
"I'm not a hybrid," Nova replied, shaking her head, "I could say I'm just a normal Zoroark, but that wouldn't be correct either."
"Alright then," Jack asked, folding his arms. "If you're not a hybrid, or a normal Zoroark, then what exactly are you?"
"In short, Azorian," Nova started, "The longer explanation has more to do with the Core."
"...Which is another word I'm unfamiliar with," Jack said, "So that doesn't really help me."
"The Core is the ancient, sentient aura source I mentioned earlier," Nova replied.
Jack stared at her blankly for a second, then decided that he was in well over his head and it was probably in his best interests to just accept that and move on.
"Okay," he said. "So the invisible person, this 'Core', is responsible for your… 'unique' appearance, and similarly unique moveset. But how exactly?"
"When I evolved, I did so inside the Core. I absorbed parts of its very essence when doing so. My moveset however comes from… less than pleasant means…" Nova said, looking down at the ground some as she finished.
Jack raised an eyebrow quizzically, but didn't pursue the subject. He didn't usually feel like talking about his past either at the best of times, much less to a stranger he'd only met that day.
"Back to your… what did you call it? A Hasty?" Jack asked instead.
"Hastae," Nova corrected, her grip around the spear tightening ever so slightly. "It's the traditional weapon of the Azorian Triarii."
"Two more words I don't know…" Jack said, rubbing the back of his head.
"Azoria was the ancient civilization I mentioned, and Triarii were their elite troops," Nova replied as she looked over her spear.
"And I assume you're pretty handy with it?" Jack stated. "I saw you using it against that Lucario, and it seemed singularly effective."
"That I am; I spent the past three months training to use it effectively," Nova answered.
Jack nodded. "In that case, do you think you could show me a few tricks of the trade some time? Not now, we should probably put as much distance between us and the base as possible before nightfall, but sometime?"
"I suppose I could," Nova started with a faint smile. "And yes, that would probably be for the best. The more ground we cover, the closer we get to our destination."
"Then shall we be off?" Jack asked.
"Certus," Nova answered, nodding her head in confirmation.
The sun was low in the sky was the duo walked towards it. They had made decent progress since leaving the outskirts of Fort Aaron. Nova and Jack had made small talk during the travel with Nova telling the strange human the history of Azoria and Saldara while he told her of his travels in Sinnoh. As of the current moment, the two were walking in relative silence. The only noise coming from Nova as she quietly hummed a song with its gently melody flowing through the air.
"You know one thing I would like to know," Jack said tentatively, "How did you meet that Lucario?"
Nova stopped her humming as she looked over at Jack. She pondered what to say and how to explain it for a few seconds.
"In short, he saved me. Of course back then he was a lot darker and less friendly. I do believe he threatened to punt me over a mountain," Nova answered with a laugh.
"He didn't, I can only assume," Jack replied. "What happened after that?"
"Umm…. right," Nova started, bringing one of her paws up and running it through her mane. "Let's just say we went on a journey to get back home."
Jack nodded, although he was still quite curious. "Fair enough, fair enough. Anyway, it's going to be nightfall soon; do you feel like stopping for the night, or do you think we should keep going a while longer?"
"Here is good," Nova said after looking around a bit before taking the spear off of her back and sitting down.
"In that case," Jack replied, cracking his neck, "I'll go see what I find in the way of dinner; unless you'd rather find your own, of course. I'm not exactly an expert on what Zoroarks typically like to eat."
"Well, I doubt that there are any rivers with fish around here, but I enjoy Oran and Sitrus Berries," Nova answered, lying back down on the ground and setting her spear down next to her. "You don't have to get me food if you don't want, I am capable of getting my own."
Jack shook his head emphatically. "No, it's no trouble at all. Oran and Sitrus, you said? I'll be right back."
Jack quickly teleported away to go look for berries. Although to be honest, the main reason he'd wanted to go was to be alone. It had been hard for him to talk about his travels, and that was while being careful not to talk about anything too… emotional. It was eating away at him from the inside, the feelings of guilt and helplessness. He wasn't sure how much longer he could put a brave face on it. He probably would've broken down already if it hadn't been for Nova, he refused to let her see him cry.
She had her own pain to endure, she didn't need his too.
Me: Now one thing you'll probably notice if you're keeping up with Osean's story too, is that this chapter and the next one are one chapter in his story. This is because, while I don't think that longer chapters are a bad thing necessarily, I prefer having mine be more bite-sized; something you can just sit down any time and read casually, without having to devote an extended length of time to a single chapter. Like I said though, that's just my personal preference. As such, since Osean seems to like longer chapter, if we write one that goes over 7,00 words or so I'll probably chop it up into two shorter chapters. Just so you know.
Jack: Yes yes, you're sooooo considerate. Can we get to the next chapter already?!
